Time To Answer The Reviews:
Ken Valbrandur: Thanks that you enjoyed the duel. I will gladly call it one of my best ones, without a doubt, and I wanted to add as many monsters as possible. I need a way to include them chasing over SOL Tech, like Playmaker did in Canon with it sounding natural. Not to mention I had to explain why they are going after SOL Tech. It won't happen this chapter, but it will be soon enough.
It was a week after Soulburner/ Theodore has successfully defeated The Leader of The Knights of Hanoi, Varis, in a close duel where he had to use the power of a Link-4 monster that he didn't know he had in his possession, and a Fusion monster which was his key of defeating that man in a duel, but it didn't sit right with him.
The big reason for that is that he held back. Even after using a powerful Ritual monster, a powerful Link-4 Cyberse monster and one of the most powerful monsters he has ever seen in his life, he still held back. Which meant that he had monsters that were on par with the monsters that showed up in that duel.
After the duel, he decided to look into his deck to see if he could do something during their next encounter and to his shock, he saw a couple of monsters he totally didn't see at all. 1 Ritual monster by the name of Emerald Eagle, 1 Tuner monster with no Synchro monster, weird, and 2 XYZ monsters which to his shock, were actually pretty simple to summon and use, which their names were Blaze Dragon and Miragestelio.
He wondered why he didn't see those monsters before and that they would've helped him a lot during his duels against people like the Gore, Kiku and ESPECIALLY against Varis, but Flame told him that he first needed to summon Pyro Phoenix to unlock his deck's true potential, and if he does, cards and monsters he didn't see before will appear in his deck. He didn't know as well, but he did know that the power of those monsters was nothing to laugh at.
An automatic destruction if battling with a Link monster on the field, a special summon during the Battle Phase, destruction during one and free protection all in one XYZ monster and a monster that specials from the deck? Those were powerful monsters that will absolutely help him during the duels against Varis.
He decided to keep them a secret. Not because he doesn't trust his friends, far from it, but because he wants to shock them when he summons them during a duel and uses their effects. Call him a jerk, but he couldn't wait to see the look on their faces when he Ritual Summons. Sure he might get his ass beat, but hey, it will be worth it.
But that wasn't the only thing that happened after the duel. Link VRAINS was temporarily shut down, for a week or so, to fix the damages and to increase the security of the network system, more importantly the ones that were created in the duel against Soulburner and Varis, or the ones whenever the Knights Of Hanoi were relevant.
Which meant the place where it was impossible to get in, unless you have an Ignis or a really good hacker that you could get into, was a one protected by a Firewall. They made an announcement that they would either delete the entire place, or fix it.
Not to mention they also upgraded their security system so in hopes that they could get the information of where either Soulburner, Frostgirl or Stormrider were so they can be near the Ignis, which gave Seigen a big laugh once he heard that as he upgraded the firewall on all of their duel disks so they wouldn't get even a mile near them.
It was also rumoured that the chief of SOL Tech Akira Zaizen, or at least one of them, was either fired or demoted due to a couple of reasons: A Knight Of Hanoi wreaked havoc around Link VRAINS and destroying several civilians, The Shepherd attacking innocent civilians whom he hired, letting a duel where one of the duelists fell into a coma continue, although that he didn't know was happening, and have the Leader of the Knights of Hanoi create a massive Data Storm, destroying almost everything in its way and nearly killing one an innocent kid, although that last one was out of his control and he had no way of stopping him.
He was replaced by some guy named Kitamura which some workers call him a Looney Tunes character because half of the time he is goddamn insane. The only difference is that a Looney Tunes character is funny.
As much as they wanted to attack SOL Tech, or at the very least learn about the history of the place, or better yet the Lost Incident, it was somewhat nice that they were about to have a small break. Heck, Varis might also be taking a break, but they weren't sure if that was a good thing though. They were slightly sorry for this Akira guy, even though they didn't know him very much, it wasn't fair that they were mostly the reason why he even got fired or demoted in the first place.
Now back to our Heroes. After Kiku was saved by Theodore, and that, she woke up in a hospital where a red haired doctor decided to check on the patient to see her, which she immediately decided to run some tests to see if there was anything going on the patient, only to find out there was nothing wrong at all. After that, she called her guardians, aka her parents, to tell them the good news, which half an hour later, they arrived with the father looking like he was about to die from crying too much, while his son was almost there.
Man, the men of the Kamishirakawas are really emotional, huh?
Thankfully they found nothing wrong with her, which like the doctor, confused them on how that can be a possibility, but they were still over the moon that she was alright.
Tomorrow, as soon as she left her house to go see her best friends, she was greeted by a hug from her two best friends. One that was from normal strength from Seigen, who had a black eye, a couple of bruises on his face and an almost broken nose, and one hug where she could feel several of her ribs being cracked by the person that stole her first kiss.
It lasted for a minute or two, with one of the grips getting weaker because they got their ass handed to them yesterday, but soon ended the hug with her gasping for air. Theodore really gives out powerful hugs. A real bear hug that would make a bear jealous.
They told her that Flame was left back at home being he wanted to just relax and think about strategies alone, which they were fine at and decided to hang out like any other day. Go around the town, chilling around, finding something to eat, just enjoying their company.
But, they have realized something along the way, something that has happened yesterday, but only know they found out about that.
It is about that moment. The reason why Seigen looks like he just got jumped by like 20 people all at once and got his shit run by them. Their little moment together, something that should've never been by anyone because it was protected by a firewall so no one could see it.
The only one that could be responsible for doing this is…
Both Kiku and Theodore turned their heads towards Seigen who looked at them confused, but then saw them cracking their knuckles. They are about to beat his ass. Oh he is so dead. He will miss eating solid food for about a month.
Thankfully, for him, not for them, he noticed the camera angle being that from like it was filmed, like someone was spying on them more than anything and not from a duel disk, which they looked over and spared Seigen from a grade A, government approved, first class, 5 star ass beating. For now.
It was at the same place where Seigen and Theodore were after the first public appearance of the three in Link VRAINS so the TVs were only talking about that kiss. It was everywhere, some from the same angle, but some with the same angle, but most of them were zoomed in.
They were talking about how one user, by the name of Alter Gal, posted the video of both Soulburner and Frostgirl kissing after his duel against Varis. It was on a website called Into The Gossip, where it is about several things that have happened in Link VRAINS users, both in there and outside of it, and that got the most amount of views in the shortest amount of time.
They were also talking about some new news of Blue Angel Fusion Summoning for the first time in her carrier, a guy showing up and losing about 50 times in a row while also calling himself the Brave Battler, but the only brave thing about him is that he is still able to duel with that many loses and the Gore talking about he upgraded his deck to new heights, which made some new rumours of him having some kind of monsters that weren't just Link monsters.
These people need to touch grass. Not the duelists, but the reporters.
Not to mention there were several videos of the so called shippers, which made Kiku's already pale face become even more pale when she saw some videos. Some of them, the ones that liked to call themselves the Frostburners, celebrated their victory of their ship becoming real, which confused Theodore on why a boat should be celebrated that much.
Some, the ones that are either Soulriders or Frostriders, were crying. On camera. Very loudly. It was getting really messy. Heck even the ones that were about Flame and Soulburner made some videos, but not as much. Theodore was getting confused on the whole why are people fighting about some boats. Kiku looked like she was about to faint.
Seigen on the other hand?
Laughed at every video. Him? In a relationship? Nice joke! He was aromantic asexual for years, and his friends know about that also, and the thought of him going on a date with anyone makes him laugh.
Once that calmed down and Kiku regrained composure, they looked at the different types of screens where they were talking about some dramas. What TV store plays Youtube videos? Yes, drama videos about that in one day. They work fast.
After about a minute of looking around, they were nearly done with looking around at the videos, but then Theodore looked around the TV screens and was confused about the two words that kept popping out. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the two words.
"Guys?" both Kiku and Seigen looked at Theodore as he looked at them with a confused expression, "What does 'girlboss' and 'malewife' mean?"
If Kiku was drinking at that moment, she would somehow both take a spit take and then choke on that water, but right now her eyes widened when she heard that while Seigen laughed his ass off.
After a minute or two of Seigen laughing, Kiku standing there as she couldn't say the meaning, Theodore being confused about the reaction and the people around Seigen thinking the boy has gone insane that they should call the cops, it has all stopped.
He walked over to his best friend, and placed his hand over his shoulder, "We will tell you when you are older."
"But we are the same ag-"
"We will tell you when you are older." said Kiku.
That was a week ago when that happened, and to say that things have gotten awkward between them would be understatement. A one of the century if you might add. Not between Seigen, oh no, everything has been going fine between him and his two friends and Flame.
But it was the two in question. Kiku and Theodore.
Seigen was a one that didn't care about his love life, not in a million years, but for his two friends was the only exception since you have to be blind and deaf not to see that they have feelings for each other, but he has seen at how awkward things have gone between each other that it was getting quite interesting if he has to be honest.
They would couldn't continue a single conversation for more than a minute before they looked to the other side with their face a different colour, and when they did it was short answers like a yes or no question, their faces were red whenever they look at each other and the way that they were looking at each other was… well, how do I say this?
A way that could be described with something like "OH MY GOD, GET A ROOM YOU TWO!"
It was like their feelings for each other multiplied when that kiss happened and all of those videos. Everyone could see it. Seigen, Flame, Teddy's grandparents, Kiku's family, their classmates, their neglectful teachers, the local ice cream vendor, their neighbours, everyone could see it that they have feelings for each other, and they weren't believing them when they said that they didn't have any feelings for each other. Yeah right.
They couldn't fool no one. Not even a clown could they fool.
Seigen even asked his two best friends, both privately, is that do they have feelings for each other and if he swore that he wouldn't tell a word about it, as much as it was useless to do it since everyone outside of the person they are crushing on know about this, or otherwise he would get one beating that will result in his demise. Straight to a hospital.
He did as then they looked around to see if anyone is hearing them, sighing as soon as they know that they are alone to talk about it and they look at Seigen in the face with an amused look on his face, which they then look down and confirmed it. Both of them have feelings for each other.
He remembered saying, "Wow, it took you like half a decade to finally realize your feelings." As the two, both somehow asking the same thing despite them both not being in the same room, asked if it was that obvious, and he replied by saying that a blind and deaf kid that just learned feelings could realize faster than them.
As both of the private conversations ended, both at different locations and time, he sighed as he pinched the front of his nose. "Those damn idiots." he said under his breath as he tried to do what any rational and smart person would do: trying to get them both on a date, without making it seem like he made it.
He then knew that he needed to tell about this to someone, and he knew the perfect person, or should I say, AI: Flame. He pulled out his phone and began texting him, as he realized that text messages could be sent to duel disks, and since he was on Theodore's duel disk, he could guess what just happened.
Flame sent an emoji that was something out of a sigh of relief, showing that he was glad that their headache would be finally over, he sent the text known as "Same, bro.", but then sent a text that they needed to find out a way to get them on a date. Flame sent an emoji that was the thinking emoji as he then sent out a text that said something along the lines of, "I will think about something."
This will be interesting.
When Theodore got to his house, greeted his grandparents and went into his room, Flame crossed his arms like usual as he looked at this origin/partner, "Theodore, I want to ask you something."
The boy in question looked at him as he nodded, "Sure, what do you want to talk about?" he asked as he closed the door.
"Is it true that you are in love with Kiku?" The way that the silver-red haired boy reacted by dramatically turning around so fast that he fell on his butt was hilarious. Flame should've recorded that.
"What?! How could you say that?" asked Theodore as he picked himself up as Flame looked at him.
"I mean, I am an Ignis, an AI, so we don't exactly have the right to talk about feelings about someone, but I was just asking a question because I am curious." Flame was being truthful when he said that as Theodore took a breath when he heard that.
Theodore scratched the back of his head as he looked at the ground, his face was slightly blushing as he had to answer the question. "I mean… yeah, I guess I am." he said as he swallowed whatever was in his mouth, god, he wasn't used to saying that. Flame nodded understandingly as he looked at him, "How… how do you know about that?"
Flame looked at him, "Well the first one is that you keep talking about her with a red face, with eyes full of admiration and the way you were talking about her is an easy way to understand that part. Also you talk in your sleep about her." he said as Theodore looked at him.
"Oh. It really was that obvious?" he asked his partner as he went into a motion like he was raising one of his eyebrows.
"Theodore, an AI who recently realized the concept of feelings could realize it. A baby could even. Frankly, it was a miracle that you realized it." Flame said as Theodore looked at him like he tried to object, but couldn't. Flame always manages to beat him in an argument.
(A/N: Play Offline Blues.)
"But, like I said, that wasn't the only reason. The second reason was that I am your Ignis, and by proxy, I should be having the same feelings as well, but in my sense it is less than yours and it is more platonic if anything." he said as he looked at Theodore who slowly nodded to that as he thought he knew what he was talking about.
"Oh… that makes sense, yeah." he scratched his forearm and then his chin. "That's interesting to hear about."
Flame knew that something was up for his partner, and he hated seeing him like this. All nervous like he was afraid that he failed a test. It was tough to watch.
He had to fix this for him, or at the very least, understand him better, "Theodore…" the boy in question looked at him.
"Yeah?" the silver-red haired boy.
"Are you… scared by any means?" asked Flame as Theodore slightly widened his eyes.
"What?" asked Theodore.
"Well, I was just wondering why you haven't confessed your feelings to her yet. I know she is a person that means very personal to you and you truly do care for her, which I am pretty sure she returns those feelings, so I have to know, are you scared?" asked Flame as he crossed his arms.
Theodore placed his hand under his chin and looked away from Flame, but then looked back at him and sighed. It was better to tell him. He could always trust him not to tell anyone.
"I… am scared. Honestly, I truly am scared of telling her my feelings towards her because…" he sighed as he looked at his Ignis, "I am afraid that I will be rejected, you know? By the person that I care deeply about and the thought of me being rejected by the person that I care most. It is something, but I can't, and I don't think I could manage to do it. I am scared, Flame." He said with a voice that pains Flame to hear coming from his origin.
He couldn't have his origin sad about this. He shouldn't be sad over this, and he really didn't want to be afraid of something just hanging out together, alone with each other. He wanted to help, and he thinks he knows how.
He looked over his flip phone that he never carries around, and opened it. He had an idea as his digital fingers went over the small keys and picked a certain contact to message about this, but he had to be sneaky about this.
"Theodore… I didn't know you would feel something like that, or that you would be afraid of something like rejection, but I understand that everyone is afraid of something that they have yet to experience and feeling heartbreak is one of the worst pain a person could experience, so I don't blame you for being scared of it." said Flame as he sent the message as Theodore nodded when he said that.
Yeah, that made sense, but he was still scared about the possibility of something like that happening, but at the same time, he should try at the very least, it never did hurt to try.
Flame looked at the message and then began typing, "But, I feel like being afraid and doing something that you were afraid of and either accomplishing or failing it, but still walking away from it is something that makes you human. It is normal to be scared, and I understand that. I know what it was like to be scared, truly I do, but I feel like facing those fears is what makes you strong. It made you strong when you faced Despair From The Dark, and I am sure that you can handle this as well. Remember, it is better to do something even if you are afraid rather than never facing it in the first place." he said as he looked at his message as he then sent it.
This was all coming together perfectly. Theodore looked at him. It was something that he could tell without looking at him, that actually meant a lot to him, and how reassuring how those words helped him and how it felt better to listen to those words and the weight from his shoulders has weakened when he heard it.
He looked at him with a happy smile, "Thanks man, that really means a lot to me."
"I am always glad to help you, Theodore, you do mean a lot to me." he said as he looked at his message and he knew that response was coming. Anyone could that wasn't Teddy.
"Yeah. That's great to hear that you do care for me. You're right. I should at least try to ask on her on a date or at the very least," He blushed when he thought of the very idea of doing the latter, "Express my feelings."
He nervously chuckled at that, but Flame looked at him and he could tell that look was different from others, it was mischievous. "Oh don't worry about the former one, you have to try the latter."
Theodore looked at him confused, "What do you mean by that?" he asked as Flame showed him his flip phone and his eyes widened at the messages.
"Well, look at the messages."
(A/N: End Theme.)
They said:
Hey Kiku, can I ask you something?
Yeah, sure Teddy, what is it?
I was wondering if you would like to, y'know, go on a date with me today? If that is okay with you, I mean.
He looked at Flame with so much hatred in his eyes that you could mistake Flame as the one who put him in the Lost Incident. Fire was in his eyes as he glared at Flame. "FLAME, YOU SON OF A BITCH! I WILL KILL YOU!" he roared.
Flame didn't react as he looked at the flip phone as he saw the message from Kiku.
"How dare you?! After everything, you do something like this!? I AM GOING TO SEND YOU TO THE KNIGHTS OF HANOI, YOU PIECE OF SH-"
"She said sure and what time." said Flame as Theodore stopped thinking of ways of killing Flame as he looked at his flip phone.
It was real. He wasn't lying in the slightest. He was too stunned.
He typed out a message that said, "Is 5 PM okay with you?"
He saw a message that said, "Sure! I would love to! See ya!"
He looked at his flip phone and closed it. It was real. It was happening. He felt numb just thinking of it.
He looked at Flame, and a second later he yelled, "I LOVE YOU, FLAME!" he said as he hugged the Fire Ignis. If he wasn't so small he would have hugged Theodore back, but just getting hugged felt nice.
But then he realized something. He has never been to a date.
Not once.
But he can do this! He will do this perfectly with no trouble at all!
All he has to do is to get nicely dressed and do some planning. "Flame, can you look up where the best places for a date are?"
"Sure." he said as he closed his eyes.
He had to make this special.
If you think Kiku was just as excited for this whole date thing, you wouldn't be wrong, but you wouldn't be right either. She was possibly the most excited person in the whole world. When she read the message first, she thought she was dreaming and that there was no way that could have happened so she pinched herself to see if she was dreaming, and when she did, she nearly fainted out of excitement.
Well she did, but she woke up 5 seconds later. She tried her damn hardest to type in all caps that she would love to, but thankfully she didn't do that and wanted to know the time. It was 3 PM, so she would have enough time to get ready.
She opened her closet and looked over every single outfit that could work, but it was kind of hard for her. Like is it this one good, or is this one good? Is this appropriate or is this one appropriate. It was a hard decision, but she had to pick a great one for this one. She had to make this special.
After an hour or so of trying to think of something for this little date of theirs, both of them picked out what they believed was the perfect outfit for this occasion.
Theodore was wearing a blue jacket, a white V-neck T-shirt that was green on the top with the lower part of the shirt, around the chest part, was a yellow line going in a V like fashion, with him wearing jeans and purple shoes. "So, what do you think, Flame, do I look ready?"
Flame looked at him and nodded, "Yes, I think it goes well for this occasion. Everything is decently well made and it does go with your preference. So I think this is good." said Flame, giving him a thumbs up.
Theodore smiled at the words of his Ignis, as he grabbed his wallet and his flip phone. Ready for the date. After a minute of searching, Flame did come to the realization that it all depends on both people's preference. Like if one doesn't like going to the park, then it wasn't wise to do it, but if both liked to go to the park, then it is a decent place to go.
Theodore stretched and then looked at himself at the mirror he had in his room. Hyping himself up and then slapping himself if he feels any self doubt. He can do this. He will do this.
On Kiku's end, she has decided to go for one that could be as a friendly date and/or a romantic one, and it was a one that she thought looked pretty. It was a purple dress that was wrapped around alot and it was as soft as silk with the sleeves being short. She looked around the dress that she was wearing and to see how it looked on her, and in her words, that she thought that she looked great.
She looked at her younger brother that was on her tablet which he barged into without saying a word like any younger sibling would and decided to ask him a question, "Hey, Kiki," the said boy looked at her, "How do I look for my date?"
He looked at his older sister and then back to her tablet, "Like something out a Barbie movie."
Kiku sighed. That was the nicest thing he said in about a week and she thought it was good enough. "Okay, that's good enough for m- wait, how many times did I tell you not to touch my tablet?"
"About 156 times."
"So why are you on it?"
"I wasn't listening to you. Well, I was, but I didn't care."
Kiku was this close to smacking her little brother. She usually doesn't like violence and would rather talk this through, but with her younger brother? Throw those morals through the window. He was getting smacked!
However since today she had something special, she avoided smacking the daylights out of her brother.
"Alright, I have something special today so you can be on it, but if you download a virus or watch any of those videos, I am smacking you to a new month." she said as Kiki waved his hand away.
She breathed in and out. It was time.
For their date.
She gulped and looked at herself. She clenched her fists. She can handle it. She can do this. She will do this.
When they exited their homes, with Theodore dropping off Flame to Seigen to see if there were any glitches in the duel disk or upgrading it, they went to a place that they both agreed to meet, the park, a place where they both hung out with Seigen as well.
It was kind of weird that Theodore got there first, even though he had to wait for a minute or so.
When she did get there, she waved to him, "Hey, Teddy, sorry to keep you waiting!" she yelled as Theodore waved back to her with a smile on her face.
"Ahh it's fine, I only waited a minute or so." he said as she came closer and closer to Theodore and then they looked at each other for a good minute or so.
Theodore tried his absolute hardest not to fall unconscious as he looked at her as he was stiff as a rock with a red face, and can you blame him? She was… indescribable. Beautiful, pretty, hot, cute and all of those types of adjectives. He could look at her all day and never get tired of it.
The same could be going on for Kiku as her face was red as a tomato while looking at him, and in her mind, he was making it very difficult for her not to jump on him and kiss him. In public. And honestly, if she did, they wouldn't care. Being alone with him, on this date, made him, somehow, even more handsome.
They looked at each other for a good second before looking away, trying their best to hide their blushes as their faces turned back to normal. They then looked at each other once more.
"Wow, you look… like really, how do you say this," Theodore tried his best to form sentences, but nothing was coming out, "...cute." he said with a slightly bright face.
Okay, is he doing this on purpose? He was actively making it hard for her not to jump at him as her face was as bright as a star, which in Theodore's eyes didn't change. "Than-Thanks, Teddy, the same could be said for you." she said as Theodore's cheeks were burning so much you can cook your breakfast on them.
The people around them were worried that if their faces were any redder they would explode, some were even one second away from calling the ambulance, and some were thinking, "Oh my god, get a room you two."
Thankfully, by some miracle like Jesus coming back to life, their faces weren't red, but their cheeks were flustered the entire time this date, Theodore got some courage to say, "So… are you, uhm, ready for our… date?" he asked as Kiku smiled.
"Of course I am, I can't wait." she said as she took a couple of steps so she could be closer to her date. "So where are we going?"
Theodore said, "Well, I was thinking of just going around the town, maybe watch a movie, if that's alright with you?" He looked at Kiku when he said that last part.
Kiku looked at him, and had a smile, "I would love to." Theodore smiled back as their date began.
So their date began as they decided to go to a small shop like an ice cream shop where they needed something to start off and what better than some ice cream because who doesn't love ice cream. They went to their local ice cream shop and the worker looked at the two and smiled.
Theodore ordered some strawberries while Kiku ordered some blue moon, and after about two minutes of waiting, and then stealing some glances from each other than the ice cream vendor could clearly see, they got their ice cream which they paid for and began walking out of the ice cream shop. They then looked at a bench and sat there to eat the ice cream because it would be rude to eat and walk at the same time.
Unbeknownst to the two lovebirds, Seigen and Flame were spying on them. Not in public, you think Seigen could handle that? No, Seigen was in his apartment looking over to some cameras around the city and was spying on them to hear what they were saying. While they were looking at the two, Seigen tried his absolute hardest not to yell at the screen to say, "JUST TAKE A HINT, YOU IDIOTS!"
While they were eating the ice cream, they tried their best to steal glances at the other, and when they both got caught at the same time, it was awkward and they lied saying that they were asking if the food was good, which it was. Seigen face palmed while Flame shook his head.
When they were done, they stood up, cleaned themselves up with a napkin that they got from the ice cream vendor and threw it in the trash bin. They decided to take a walk around the park that was near the ice cream shop and Theodore liked Kiku's idea so they decided to walk there.
While walking to the park, their hands were getting awfully close to the point that their knuckles were touching each other, and unknowingly, their fingers intertwined with each other as it then looked like they were holding hands which Seigen leaned in when he saw that. When the two noticed it, they nearly jumped at that as their hands separated as they apologized to each other for it, making Seigen facepalm twice with his two hands.
"Idiots, I tell you Flame," said Seigen as the Fire Ignis nodded at that.
"I concur," said Flame.
Idiots wasn't the correct word, more like, dorks, that were in love.
They reached the park, and decided to walk around the small park in Mustafu City as it was a calm place to be if you were ever stressed out, with the calm looking trees, the beautiful emerald green grass, the pretty flowers that Teddy wasn't at all thinking of giving to Kiku, nope, no way, never in a million years. How dare you think otherwise.
It was a calm walk that was just great to be around and a way to relax after the hell that they went through in the past week. They deserved this type of peace and quiet, and they liked being with each other a bit too much. They were smiling the entire time as they looked around (and to the other) and were just amazed at the beauty.
Suddenly, Kiku felt the shivers around her body as cold air went around the two. She placed her arms around each other and began shivering. Theodore took notice of this, "Kiku, are you okay?"
"Ye-yeah, it is just getting a bit cold you know?" she asked as it was kind of ironic that Frostgirl was getting the chills which he didn't decide to comment on.
Instead he was taking off his jacket, "Oh wait, let me take off my jacket." he said as he took the jacket and placed it around her shoulders which she instantly grabbed onto, "Here you can take it."
Okay, is he trying to make her love him even more? Because if he is, he is doing this amazingly as her face was red as she looked at him with a smile. "Thank you, Teddy." she said as she grabbed the jacket and could clearly smell some cologne.
Theodore smiled at her, "Anytime." He blushed when he saw how cute Kiku looked wearing his jacket. Kiku felt extremely warm while wearing his jacket as she couldn't help, but smile at the situation.
It was official. He was never getting back that jacket.
They walked around the beautiful park with smiles on their faces as they talked about how they were and how their families were which both of them were doing pretty decently. It was quite a nice walk that they didn't mind if they were doing all of this time with Kiku holding onto the jacket.
But after half an hour or so of walking around the park and enjoying each other's presence as they kept walking, they left the park. They were wondering what to do next, but they decided to do something that was kind of old, but hey it could work.
They could go to a cinema, but they were wondering what kind of movie to watch. Horror is out of the question, Theodore would leave at the first 15 minutes since he could handle Stephen King movies because they are too goofy. Comedy is an odd one, if it is a good one it could be a great experience, but if it is a bad one it would be more fun to pay taxes.
Dramas are too boring for both of them, as they once fell asleep watching one and that was with Seigen. Thriller is for the same reason as Horror, Theodore would run out of the cinema like the last time. Action is alright, but it really isn't good first date material.
Animation could work and some Animated Romance movies could work like Your Name, so they decided why not? It couldn't hurt. From what they have heard, it could work, but it was mostly carried by the animation. But hey, it could work. And from what they have heard they were showing it in cinemas again.
So they entered the cinema, the jacket still on Kiku even if she didn't really need it. He was not getting back his jacket, he figured. They walked to the receptionist and asked for 2 tickets and a bowl of popcorn, but since they cost like 15 dollars, they decided to share.
Seigen shook his head as he knew what was going to happen as Flame looked at him and asked if they should respect their privacy a little. Also it was a miracle he was hacking these cameras this fast just for something like this.
They walked into the room where the movie was showing and they decided to watch the movie. (A/N: I should say that I have never watched the movie so I won't explain what was going on.)
While the movie was going on, Theodore and Kiku were thinking that it was a decent movie, but a bit boring as the movie goes on, but it wasn't anything bad, just a bit boring, but the animation though, was incredible.
While they were taking popcorn while they were watching the movie, at the same time, the two hands touched the bowl of popcorn which they immediately noticed as they backed their hands away from the bowl immediately with red faces as they looked at the different angles. The people behind them looked at them with faces saying, "God, we are watching a movie, get a room, you two."
While the movie was continuing for a good twenty minutes, they didn't notice one thing as they were looking at the movie. When Kiku wanted to check something like the time, she was instructed to come home at around 21:00, but she noticed that her hand was under Theodore's which her face became redder than ever as she instantly pulled over. When Theodore looked at her confused, she explained as his face was red as well.
They couldn't focus after that, no matter what they did. No matter if they watched the movie, look at the floor, tried looking away, they couldn't get the memory of their hands holding together. And they couldn't not miss the way it felt. Their two hands of different sizes, one slightly rough and the other soft, almost felt magical.
When the movie was over, they walked out of the cinema immediately as they couldn't exactly explain how that felt. Their faces were flustered all the time. When they walked off, they realized that it was night time. It was around 20:00 and it was already night? Strange.
"Boy, was that a… movie, huh?" asked Theodore as he couldn't exactly look at Kiku.
"Yeah, it was… a movie, Teddy." agreed Kiku as she couldn't form sentences.
"Quite the, uhm, movie." said Theodore. It was getting really awkward.
"I liked the part where it showed… the characters doing… stuff."
"Yeah, that stuff." It was like watching two people with no social skills trying to make a conversation. So like 2 Seigens talking to each other.
It was quiet for a bit as they saw a bench. They decided to sit there because their date was about to end, and why not? They could look at the almost forming stars, and they were pretty to look at.
They sat down and looked at the sky, stealing glances between each other once more.
"Hey, Teddy?" began Kiku as the boy looked at her.
"Yeah, Kiku?" he asked.
"I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the date," she said while she blushed as Theodore blushed at the same time.
"Really?" she nodded as Theodore smiled, "That's great to hear. I had fun as well." he said.
Kiku wanted to say something, she wanted to express her feelings towards him, the ones that she had for the longest time. She gripped her hands as she looked at him, and she thought she saw an almost identical facial expression of hers, but that must be her imagination.
She looked at the sky and the Moon and how it reflected the sunlight from it, in a beautiful way that couldn't be replicated. She swallowed whatever was in her throat as she asked, "The Moon is beautiful, isn't it?" she asked.
Theodore leaned in with a smile, "Yeah, it is." he said as Kiku sighed. She thought he would get that, but no he didn't. It wasn't a shocker, but still. Seigen nearly flipped the table when he responded like that.
Kiku looked at him and she thought, screw it, it was the perfect time, at the perfect location, nearly alone and almost no one could hear or see them. "Teddy." the silver-red haired boy looked at her, kind of shocked to see that look of her.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"I want to tell you something, something that I have been harboring for years now, and something that I don't think I can hold it in anymore, and I just want to tell you this, because… because you have to hear this," she said as she looked at his expression and it was a one that she could tell was listening, and she got nervous. She mentally slapped herself as she had to woman up! She can do this.
"I want to tell you that I…" she bit her lip as she closed her eyes. "I love you."
Theodore looked at Kiku when she said that, did he really hear that?
No, no, it has to be his imagination, there was no way that could be the case, can it? It can't be…
"I am sorry, but what did you say?" he asked, in a manner that wasn't in any bad conflict as he wanted to hear her, but it still felt horrible to say that.
Kiku bit her tongue as her eyes went in a way that showed that she was scared to say anything, but no, she won't be scared to say this, even if he doesn't share the same feelings, it would still mean a lot just to say this, to finally get this off her chest, even if there was a chance…
She opened her eyes as she looked at his face, which was a mix of emotions that she didn't know how to describe or pinpoint exactly, but that didn't stop her. Not even for a second.
"I love you!" she yelled as everything felt silent as the world seemed to just quiet down as it felt like to everyone else. Even Seigen was the one not to speak as he leaned forward as Flame crossed his arms.
"I loved you for the amount of years that I don't even know, I loved you ever since we were little kids, ever since that incident, and how I felt lonely, I felt something for you that I just… I can't describe…" Kiku looked away for a second, thinking that she might have overdone it, but no, she was just getting started.
"I love you Teddy, and everything about you. I love how funny you are when you make us laugh, I love how you care about everyone around you and the ways you would do it even if it costs your life, I love how cute you are, I love you glasses or not, I always wanted to trail my hands through your hair, I love even your flaws," she said as her face became redder and redder with each word and sentence as Theodore stared at her, not sure how to react to this. "I love how terrible you are with technology, how scared you are at every horror movie, at how you can't handle a single ride, how you nearly burned down the kitchen once, I love it all, and I love you Teddy, I just… I wanted to get this off my chest."
She finally finished her sentence as she felt… She didn't even know what to describe it, was it happiness that she finally said it? Sadness that this might ruin their relationship? Relief that she got this off her chest?
She didn't know, and quite frankly, she didn't want to know how she felt at the current moment. All that matters is that she finally said it, and it felt rewarding to finally say those words to someone she loved.
Kiku looked at Theodore's face which was another bunch of emotion that she couldn't describe. She couldn't read a single emotion out of his entire face, which scared her for a moment. Was this… the wrong thing to say?
She gulped as Kiku looked at him, and breathed in and out, this can't go well, but there was something that she had to say to finish this just so she could feel better that she finally said it, even for just this moment.
"And those feelings, for you, felt like they were increased by a lot, to the amount that it shouldn't even be fair, when you saved me and my life from Varis and from that Virus, even with that kiss, it felt like that… I just… can't even think about it, it was such a powerful moment that I can't… describe at all." she said as she looked at him, "I wanted to say all of this, because, I love you." she said as Theodore's eyes widened when she said that.
He was quiet for longer than Kiku liked and it was getting uncomfortable, an overwhelming amount of it. Was it wrong for her to do this?
Was it a horrible decision to do so?
Was it…
No, no, no, that didn't sit right with her. That can't be.
She felt her chest tighten as Theodore looked at her with a new expression, but she turned around when he did so, not wanting to see him. She gulped as she stood up, and turned around, wanting to run away from this.
A way to escape this situation, but then before she did anything, Theodore caught her hand which shocked her, and she felt nervous about this.
Kiku looked back, slowly just so she didn't see his full expression, but then Kiku saw something that she wasn't expecting.
A smile from him, and a happy one at that.
"Kiku, I didn't think that you had those types of feelings for me, I am just shocked," he said slowly, but then he looked at her with the most relieved face he made, "but, I am glad that you did, because I wanted to say this as well. I love you too." he said as Kiku looked at him like he won the lottery as she then, unconsciously, sat down.
"I loved you too ever since, god I don't know, for like the first three grades or something, I am not quite sure, but what I do know, is that I loved you ever since. I love everything about you, I love how kind and caring you are, I love staring at your beautiful eyes, I love your ocean blue hair, I love that you don't mind my flaws, I just… love you, Kiku. I truly do."
Kiku only stared at him as he looked away, as he felt embarrassed to say this, but if Kiku could do it, he can as well, he has to. For her.
"And, when you were in that coma, I was destroyed, you shouldn't have seen me, it has horrible, I couldn't…" he gulped for a moment as he breathed in and out, "I couldn't think straight, I just couldn't think about anything else, I wanted to save you, I wanted to protect you." he said as his grip tightened, but it wasn't enough to hurt her, "I wanted to protect you, because I love you, Kiku, and I will always do." he said as he felt finally free at last.
Free from telling Kiku the truth, and the feelings he had were finally spoken as Seigen leaned back in his chair, in relief and happy for them.
Kiku only looked at him before… smiling, "That… that feels so good to hear." she said as she felt like crying, not out of sadness, but with happiness.
"Yeah, it really does," said Theodore as he didn't want to let go, and if Kiku was honest with herself, neither did she.
It was quiet for them, but now with a more comfortable silence between each other, as they finally, after years of these oppressed feelings were finally told about each other, and it felt great to do so.
But there was one thing that was on her mind, "Hey, Teddy, I have a question?" she asked as Theodore looked at her.
"Yeah, sure, what is it?" he asked as Kiku's face turned red at the mere thought about the question.
She gulped, bit her lip, but she has to woman up and say this, otherwise, she will hate herself for not telling him anything.
"Can I kiss you?"
That hit Theodore like a truck made out of switch blades as he wasn't expecting anything like that from Kiku, but he looked at her, and smiled. "Sure, you can, I mean, I did steal yours, so it is fitting for you to do the same." he said.
He leaned in, with his eyes closed, but not moving a muscle as he knew that she wanted to do this, so he let her do it with no problem whatsoever.
Kiku felt like she was running a marathon on a hot sunny day because of the way her face turned into a bright red colour as she went slowly and slowly as Theodore was just standing there, not doing anything and was patiently waiting.
Once she was a couple of centimeters away from his face and her body was shaking, but took a deep breath as her face was going slowly and slowly near his face as then…
…their lips kissed for a solid minute. It was a nice feeling that they both enjoyed with a nice sensation that felt nice. They didn't care if they were doing this in public, even during the night.
Seigen might or might not have taken several pictures of them while Flame clapped his hands. Proud of both of them that they finally confessed during this entire thing.
When they were done, they then looked each other in the eyes for a time that they wouldn't mind if it lasted forever, if they were honest, they thought the others eyes were the most beautiful things they have ever seen.
It was such a beautiful sight that they could look for hours and never get tired of it, it was magical.
It was getting awkward to say this, but they wouldn't mind being…
the mere thought of them being boyfriend and girlfriend. They would actually love being each other's lover, but it certainly they have time to get used to it.
After looking at each other's eyes for a couple of minutes, Theodore stood up and took her hand as he wanted to walk her to her home so she could go there safely, which they enjoyed being around each other as they had their hands held, with their fingers intertwined.
It was shown that, this date was a successful one.
But unknown to them, Akira Zaizen was sitting on his chair. His role as the security manager was taken away from the 5 higher ups of SOL Tech, but was demoted so his job wouldn't support him or his sister so he had to work more over time.
He sighed as he looked at the picture of his younger sister and thought to himself, was he really a lap dog for SOL Tech like what the Shepherd said? It might have been correct, but he didn't want to admit it.
He sighed and closed his eyes. He then looked to his phone and thought to himself, was he gonna do it? Or was the truth why his sister was…
No, no, he has to do this. To learn the truth behind SOL Tech and their past.
He stood up and narrowed his eyes at his phone. It had to be done. He has to learn the truth.
The truth behind SOL Tech's past.
Author Notes:
*Blasts Guess Who Is Back from Black Clover, and Back Again by Eminem* SUP, BITCHES?! How you doing? I am doing fine.
Sorry that it took me so long to finish this god damn chapter, but I have a very good reason why. I died, yes I am being serious, and I went to Hell. I wasn't taking that disrespect, so I challenged the Devil for my freedom in a children's card game. So why did it take me so long to defeat him?
That bastard played Mystic Mine. I knew he was evil, but this was way too far.
Anyway, I hope that this chapter was okay, and sorry for the wait you guys. We FINALLY get the two love birds together in Chapter 11, which in the land of anime, is basically the first 100 episodes, pretty unheard of. I will try my best to write them as accurately as how real couples are, but I will try is the key word.
We get some story at the end of the chapter, and the next chapter is Ghost Gal's duel, and I won't be using the new Support since I wrote before they were announced. I will try to use the new Salamangreat cards, except the Synchro monster since I already have an idea for that one.
Here is a fun fact: THeodore's outfit is actually based on Oliver "Ollie" Chen from The Ghost and Molly Mcgee, who is my boy. I recommend that show, and thanks to ThunderMarisol for Kiku's outfit. Couldn't make the chapter without ya' bestie!
I think that is about it, see ya'!